


Felicity Versus The Origin Story

by Girlwithsixsmiles



Series: Felicity Versus [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Chuck (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-25
Packaged: 2018-01-02 14:43:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1058012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girlwithsixsmiles/pseuds/Girlwithsixsmiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity Smoak is less than impressed with her lackluster life---after getting kicked out of MIT due to a false accusation of cheating by her roommate, she's working a dead end job fixing computers at the Buy More with her best friend Thea, lives with her brother Tommy and his girlfriend Laurel, and has no love life to speak of. Everything changes when she receives an unexpected email from her former college roommate Sara Lance (yes, THAT roommate). It sets off a chain of events that leads Felicity to believe her life might be more exciting than she thought.</p><p>NOTE: While this loosely follows the plot line of the Chuck pilot, any Arrow fan will be able to follow along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Felicity Versus The Origin Story

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to humansrsuperior for holding my hand throughout this process as well as thecoolcheryl and chasethewind for being awesome betas!
> 
> This work was inspired by a photoset on Tumblr created by bruisin-b-anthony (http://tinyurl.com/k4p6mfo) but I took some creative liberties with it. 
> 
> For Arrow fans who have never seen Chuck: What's wrong with you? Just kidding! It's not too late! All five seasons are now streaming on Netflix for your viewing pleasure. Felicity Smoak and Chuck Bartowski are kindred spirits.
> 
> For Chuck fans who have never seen Arrow: You're missing out! While you'll recognize the storylines, these characters are all new to you. Why don't you change that by watching Season 1 of Arrow on Netflix? I'm sure Bartowski had a Green Arrow comic tucked away somewhere...

Felicity Smoak winced as the alarm clock went off, the beat echoing the thunderous pounding simultaneously happening in her head. This was one hell of a hangover, although for the life of her, she honestly couldn’t remember drinking last night. Reaching for her glasses on the nightstand, she turned off the alarm and sat up. When she glanced over to her computer monitor and saw an open email message, it all started coming back to her.

The tell-tale chime had alerted her to an email out of nowhere from Sara Lance, her old roommate back at MIT. The same roommate who had accused her of stealing test answers and subsequently got her expelled just before her final semester. To say things had ended on unkind terms would be putting it mildly, so seeing Sara’s name pop up in her inbox was a shock.

At first glance, the message looked like some sort of e-vite, but there had been an attachment as well. An attachment that consisted of a stream of images and video that Felicity was unable to tear her eyes from. That’s the last thing she remembered before passing out. “I guess that explains the headache,” she mumbled to herself. As a computer science major, she was used to spending long stretches of time in front of electronics, but sometimes she couldn’t avoid the dreaded headaches.

She grabbed her standard Nerd Herd uniform from the closet—a black pencil skirt, a white dress shirt, and a grey neck tie—and trudged to the bathroom she shared with her roommate/brother Tommy and his live-in girlfriend Laurel. Felicity never called Laurel by her given name, but instead chose to call her Captain Awesome, since the lawyer was seemingly perfect and could do no wrong.

As much as Felicity loved her brother’s girlfriend, it always made it plainly obvious how much Felicity had underachieved. Besides not getting a degree and living with her brother, she had a dead end job with no prospects, as well as no love life to speak of.

As the warm water streamed down, Felicity finally felt her headache start to subside. Another day working as a Nerd Herd technician at the Buy More was ahead of her, and the sheer thought of it almost brought the headache right back to the forefront. It wasn’t entirely awful, since her best friend Thea worked there too, but Felicity was getting sick of all the monotony.

After taking an extended shower, Felicity had to rush the rest of her morning routine if she wanted to make it to work on time. Dashing into the kitchen, she grabbed a package of Pop Tarts, eschewing the toaster as there was definitely no time for that.

“Morning, sunshine,” Tommy said from the kitchen table, casually sipping his coffee. “Thea’s waiting outside.”

“Outside? You didn’t invite her in?”

“I tried,” Laurel said, strolling into the kitchen wearing her workout gear. “She wouldn’t budge, even after I offered to teach her a scorpion pose.”

Chuckling, Felicity quickly understood where Thea was coming from. Thea had been in love with Tommy for as long as she could remember, so the constant reminder of his girlfriend’s perfection did her no favors.

“Lasagna tonight?” Felicity asked Tommy.

“I was thinking we might try something new…”

“Do we really have to? Lasagna night is sacred!”

“A change could do you some good, Felicity.”

“While that may be true in some aspects of my life, nothing good will come from skipping a lasagna meal.”

“Lasagna it is. But promise me you’ll ask about the supervisor position?” Tommy and Captain Awesome had been urging her for months to seek out additional responsibility at work, anything to advance from her current position.

“Promise. But if I don’t leave now, I won’t have any position at all, let alone a promotion!”

Tommy shooed her out the door, where she found Thea sitting on the steps, wearing her khakis and her standard-issue green Buy More polo shirt.

“Remind me again why you get the marginally fashionable uniform with the skirt and the tie, while I have to wear this?” Thea said, gesturing down to her thoroughly unappealing outfit.

“Because I can fix any computer and you can’t?”

“Be that as it may, I think the uniforms could use a little updating,” Thea said, walking towards Felicity’s Nerd Herd Mini Cooper parked on the curb.

“Does this have anything to do with Tommy seeing you wearing that while Captain Awesome looked like a yoga goddess?”

“Ugh. How can you stand to live with her?”

Felicity got in and started the ignition. “Thea, I’m starting to think that you might need to go with plan B for your choice in husband because I don’t think they’re breaking up anytime soon. As much as I would love for you to be my sister…”

“I know, I know. A girl can dream. But what other prospects are there? When’s the last time either of us has met someone remotely exciting?”

“There was that trainee from the Coast City store a few months ago…” Felicity trailed off.

“Travis?! The most exciting thing about him was that he no longer lived with his parents!”

“You’re right. Maybe we should go to that speed dating event Awesome keeps telling me about,” Felicity remarked.

“We’ll give it till the end of the day. If neither of us meets anyone, then we’ll sign up.”

“You might as well sign me up now.”

“You never know, you might meet someone on a service call,” Thea snarked.

“Considering that 75% of my calls are from senior citizens, I would be concerned if I met the love of my life while fixing screen saver settings,” Felicity said, rolling her eyes.

“But then you could marry rich and quit working at this hellhole,” Thea said as they pulled into the parking lot.

“I’ll pass. Maybe speed dating won’t be so bad.”

“Some variety in our otherwise bland lives,” Thea agreed.

As she and Thea headed into the Buy More for yet another day of the same old thing, Felicity couldn’t help but feel like today things were going to be different. Maybe it was a lingering effect from her headache, or maybe it was the prospect of a promotion hanging over her head, but Felicity had an uncharacteristic positive attitude to start the day.

It was short-lived, however, as the day dragged on with customer after customer needing help with simple fixes. Nothing was a challenge to Felicity these days. Back at MIT, she could hack with the best of them, but uninstalling software and downloading vacation photos was a misuse of her talents. Thanks to Sara, the black mark of getting expelled from MIT and not completing her degree prevented her from achieving her full potential. Without the scholarship she had been receiving at MIT, she couldn’t afford to complete her degree anywhere other than a community college. And without a degree, no one respectable would hire her. Tommy was urging her to go after this supervisor position because it would allow her to save more money in order to go back to school someday.

After helping what felt like the millionth person install virus protection, Felicity was drained. Thea got her attention from across the sales floor, gesturing to her phone. Opening her phone to find a message from Thea, she saw two emojis, one of a fire and one of a cup of some steamy beverage, plus an arrow pointing down. The way Thea used emojis was like trying to read hieroglyphics—she always used the most random images and didn’t give any context clues. At this point, the texts were like a game for Felicity, a puzzle to solve. “Fire coffee?” Felicity mused aloud. “Flaming cup?”

The bell on the counter chimed, and as Felicity looked up, everything fell into place. “Hot tea!” Her cheeks went instantly red when she saw the most attractive man she’d ever seen standing on the other side of the counter. Thankfully, he seemed to ignore her outburst, smiling instead.

“Are you Felicity?”

“Yes,” she said, swallowing hard, not knowing what else to say. She took a moment to observe this stranger who seemingly knew who she was. Well-built, with close-cropped sandy brown hair, the man had piercing blue eyes. And if his smile was any indication, there were some dimples hiding underneath that day-old stubble.

“I was told you could maybe help me with this,” he said, placing a laptop on the counter. “I spilled a latte on it and I was hoping you could try to salvage the hard drive.”

Finally gaining back some of her bearings, Felicity spoke. “I can certainly take a look at it. Hopefully it’s not a total loss. Let me get started with the paperwork…” she trailed off, not knowing his name.

“Sorry! I’m Oliver. Oliver Queen,” he said, sticking out his hand.

Felicity quickly brushed her suddenly sweaty palm against her skirt before grasping Oliver’s hand. “Well, Oliver, it’s almost closing time, so I won’t be able to take a look at this until tomorrow. Is that okay?”

“So you’re getting off soon?”

“Well, yeah…” Felicity stammered, unsure of where this conversation was headed.

“It’s just that I’m new here in town and I’m still pretty unfamiliar with the area. Would you be willing to show me around? Maybe grab a bite to eat?”

If Felicity’s ears weren’t mistaken, it certainly sounded like he was asking her out. That was impossible. “You mean tonight?”

“If you’re free,” he said with a grin.

At that moment, Felicity couldn’t remember what her middle name was, so it was impossible to remember if she had plans. “Nothing comes to mind,” she said, while glancing over to Thea. “I do have to drive my friend home first,” she finally remembered.

“Not a problem. I can pick you up.”

“Are you sure you won’t get lost on your way there? Maybe we should just meet back here. You do know how to get here, after all.” Logic was always Felicity’s strong suit.

“I think I can manage.” After exchanging information, Oliver made his way out of the store, but not before he gave Felicity one last heart-stopping smile.

Thea pounced on Felicity in an instant. “Was I right or what?” she said, pointing to her phone.

“Thanks for that, by the way. I didn’t figure it out until he was standing there so I basically yelled ‘hottie’ in his face.”

“But it looked like you were getting along more than the other customers today. He looked flirty.”

“He asked me out,” Felicity said with a panicked look on her face.

“WHAT?!” Thea screeched. “How was that the SECOND thing you told me?!”

“And we’re going tonight.”

“Jesus Christ, Felicity, we need to get you ready now! Give me your keys.”

“I guess this means we don’t have to go speed dating now.”

Thea may have left tire marks in her rush to get Felicity home as soon as possible. As Felicity opened the door, she was hit by a wave of garlic, cheese, and tomato. Lasagna night. Of course.

“Tommy?” Felicity called out uncertainly.

“Yeah?” He answered from the kitchen.

“I’m going to have to miss lasagna night.”

Tommy poked his head out from the kitchen. “How come?”

“She’s got a date!” Thea answered for her.

“A date?” Laurel asked as she entered the living room.

“No time to elaborate. We have to get her ready!” Thea dragged Felicity off to her room for the inevitable fashion show. While Thea insisted that she “step up her game,” Felicity settled on a casual but cute outfit, layering a long cardigan over her skinny jeans and panda bear flats. “At least let me do your makeup,” Thea pleaded.

“Fine,” Felicity relented. “But please don’t make me look like I have a black eye.”

Felicity’s phone beeped with a text from Oliver indicating that he would be there in five minutes—if he didn’t get lost first. Not wanting to put herself through the potential embarrassment of introducing Oliver to Tommy and Laurel, Felicity decided waiting for Oliver outside was the safest bet. She gathered her things and headed towards the living room, Thea following behind.

“So who’s the guy?” Tommy asked.

“Can’t talk now, he’s waiting outside. The good news is that Thea can tell you all about it during dinner,” she said, as she shoved Thea in Tommy’s direction. Thea grinned, thrilled to be spending more time with Tommy, while Tommy simultaneously rolled his eyes.

“Don’t wait up!” Felicity called out as she left.

Oliver was pulling up to the curb just then, in a black sports car that was definitely above her pay grade. She climbed into the passenger seat before he could even open his door. “Hi,” she said, glancing over at Oliver.

“Hi,” he said, clearly amused.

“There’s a burger place not too far from here. I can show you how to get there. Unless you have something else in mind?” Felicity was operating in panic mode, speaking in her nervous rapid-fire. She was so out of practice when it came to dating that her manners clearly flew out the window.

“No, burgers are just fine. Lead the way.”

After Felicity successfully maneuvered them to the shopping center’s parking lot, they headed into Big Belly Burger, a local favorite. Oliver ushered her to a booth, guiding her with his hand lightly resting on the small of her back. That was more than enough to cause Felicity to break into a nervous sweat.

“So what’s the specialty here?” Oliver asked after they were seated.

Trying to keep it together and not make a fool of herself, Felicity replied, “You can’t go wrong with a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake.” She could feel her purse vibrating, probably a message from Tommy or Thea. She chose to ignore it, instead focusing on the very attractive man sitting across from her.

“Sounds delicious.” After placing their order, Felicity knew that it was time for the barrage of personal questions. It had been so long since she’d been on a date. Nervousness was to be expected, but it was certainly amplified by the person sitting on the other side of the booth. Oliver was nothing like her previous dates, and it was intimidating.

“So how long have you been at the Buy More?”

“Three years.”

“Did you start there right after college?”

Felicity internally groaned. Right off the bat, she got to admit her greatest failure.  
“Technically, yes. But long story short, I didn’t get to finish my degree.”

“What were you studying?”

“Computer science at MIT.”

“Wow.” Oliver’s eyebrows raised, impressed. “I certainly can’t say the same for myself.”

“What about you?”

“Let’s just say it took a couple of tries to find the right school. But I studied international relations.”

“International relations? What brings you to Starling City, then?”

“A fresh start. I had been in DC, but I just got out of a relationship and wanted a change in scenery. Once I realized that all of my friends were her friends and everything reminded me of her, it was time to go.” He glanced down and shook his head. “Sorry. I guess by the sound of it, I come with a lot of baggage.”

“I could be your baggage handler.” Felicity played that last line back in her head and winced. “If you hadn’t noticed, my brain thinks of the worst way to say things.”

Oliver smiled. “It happens to the best of us.”

“Well, it definitely happens to me more than the average person.” Felicity could feel her bag vibrating on the bench beside her. Tommy and/or Thea sure were insistent. If she didn’t answer them now, it would just get worse. “If you’ll excuse me for just a moment?”

“By all means.”

As Felicity made her way towards the door, she glanced at the other booths she passed. People watching was a pastime for her and Thea, coming up with crazy scenarios about the people they observed. A family with their two grass-stained children seemed to be celebrating their soccer game. Behind them was a buff African-American man in a suit, perusing the day’s paper while nursing a cup of coffee. Felicity wondered what she and Oliver looked like to a casual observer on the outside.

Stepping onto the sidewalk outside, Felicity pulled out her phone. Thea and Tommy had both texted her. Tommy’s message popped up first. “Hope you’re having a good time. If all else fails, there’s leftover lasagna in the fridge!”

Felicity quickly texted back with a smile on her face. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother!”

Meanwhile, Thea’s latest pictogram masquerading as a text consisted of a series of symbols, though a bit more obvious in nature than before: a heart, red lips, a diamond ring, and a pair of baby footprints, followed by a question mark. “If you’re asking me if Oliver’s the one, it’s WAY too soon to even think about that,” Felicity texted back.

She took a minute to collect herself before going back in the restaurant. Oliver hadn’t seemed too freaked out at her earlier missteps, but she didn’t want to press her luck.

A group of young professionals approached Big Belly’s sidewalk, seemingly having come from the same place. Felicity noticed they were all wearing lanyards with name badges indicating they were attendees of a conference. She was reminded of the Allied Tech Expo currently taking place at the Starling City convention center, a conference she would love to have attended, were it not for her shifts at the Buy More that she couldn’t get out of. The Allied Tech Expo was a who’s who of technology conglomerates, with a trade show as well as keynote speeches. New, innovative products were launched at the expo every year without fail. If Felicity had a respectable job to go with her respectably impressive MIT degree, she would definitely be attending this expo, if not presenting.

This year’s featured speaker was Gideon Wallace, CEO of Lucky Strike Industries, developers of the fastest cell phone processor on the market. Back when Felicity was at MIT, her goal was to work for a company like Lucky Strike, if not Lucky Strike itself. Unfortunately for her, a prestigious job was not in the cards, and years later, her bad luck was continuing as she couldn’t even attend an interesting conference.

Trailing the group into the restaurant, Felicity started to make her way back to the booth where Oliver was awaiting her. However, as she passed the booth where the African-American gentleman’s back was to her, something caught her eye. A visible scar extended from behind his left ear down towards his throat. Felicity was abruptly assaulted with a sharp, stinging pain in her forehead.

She suddenly saw GPS coordinates on a world map, followed by grainy footage of the man being held at knifepoint, surrounded by masked captors. As the captor wielding the knife increased the pressure on his throat, the man reached up and grabbed the arms of his captor, flipping him over his shoulder. The force with which the assailant hit the ground was enough to make him unconscious. The man quickly dispatched of the two remaining masked men with the knife that had just been used against him, all while blood was running freely down his own neck.

She came back to herself in an instant, the rush of images gone from her mind. She was left with a dull ache in her temples as she found herself still standing in the middle of the restaurant. Felicity saw the man calmly sitting at his table sipping his coffee. What the hell was that mini action movie in her head? Felicity wanted to chalk it up to a highly overactive imagination, but it just seemed so real, the detail so vivid.

Shaking it off, she sat back down across from Oliver. “Sorry about that. My brother Tommy was just checking in. He’s a little overprotective of his baby sister.”

“Sounds like you’re pretty close.”

“Well, I live with him and his girlfriend, so it’s to be expected.” Over Oliver’s shoulder, she made eye contact with the man two booths over, but quickly refocused back to Oliver. “Plus, it’s been just the two of us against the world for a while, so we’re thick as thieves.” She popped a fry into her mouth.

“Is it weird having his girlfriend live with you?”

“It’s not awkward, if that’s what you mean. But it doesn’t help my ego any. Her name is Laurel, but I call her Captain Awesome because she’s just so freaking perfect.”

“Captain Awesome? Really?” Oliver chuckled.

“Oh yeah,” Felicity continued. “She’s a fantastic lawyer, not to mention gorgeous, athletic, you name it.” She looked up to see the man from the other booth looking at her once again. Did she have ketchup on her face or something? Surely Oliver would have said something by now.

“Is everything okay? You seem distracted.”

“It’s just...there’s a guy a few booths over who keeps staring at me and it’s starting to creep me out.”

“Which guy?” Oliver said, about to turn his head.

Felicity reached across the table and grabbed his shoulder. “Stop! You can’t let him see you looking! You have to be more subtle. That’s rule number one in peoplewatching,” she whispered.

“And do you consider yourself an expert on peoplewatching?”

“I’d like to think I have good instincts.”

“How’s this for subtle then?” Oliver pulled out his iPhone and acted as if he was taking her picture. His eyes widened. Turning the phone around so she could see the screen, she saw how he used the front-facing camera to get a snapshot of the man behind him. “Is this the man you’re talking about?” Oliver asked, pointing to the screen.

“Yeah, but he doesn’t look so sc---”

“We need to go,” Oliver said, standing up and throwing cash down on the table.

“What? But I haven’t even finished my milkshake.”

He grabbed her hand and led her away from the main entrance, heading the opposite direction from the man’s table. They ducked out a side door near the kitchen.

“Oliver?” she asked as they made their way toward his sports car. “Did you know that man or something?”

“Something like that. Get in.”

“Where are we going?”

Oliver remained silent as they peeled out of the parking lot. He was driving considerably faster than he had been on the way to dinner. Glancing up to the rearview mirror, Oliver suddenly shifted gears and sped up even more. Felicity looked behind them and saw the man from the restaurant following close behind in a large Suburban.

“Oliver! What is going on? Why is that man following us?”

“How do you know Sara Lance?”

“Sara?” Felicity was utterly confused. “Do you know her too?”

“How do you know her?” Oliver repeated with an edge to his voice, changing lanes as he did so.

“She was my roommate at MIT, my closest friend there before I had to leave. Why? What does that have to do with this guy following us?”

“When’s the last time you heard from her?”

“We didn’t exactly keep in touch. Wait! I did get an email from her the other day out of the blue.”

“Did you read it?”

“Yeah, I mean it looked like an invitation but there was this weird attachment.” Felicity was getting frustrated. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”

“Sara is missing and her last known communication was the email she sent you.” Oliver said, never taking his eyes off the road.

“What do you mean she’s missing?”

“Sara was working on a highly classified project for the CIA but she went rogue.”

Felicity could see the Suburban gaining on them. “Sara was a spy?! Is that why he’s after us?”

“He’s an NSA agent named John Diggle. He was sent to retrieve you in order to find Sara.” He made a sharp right turn and cut down an alley, the car fishtailing as he did so. Felicity instinctively grabbed the armrest, bracing herself.

“How do you know that?”

“Because the CIA sent me to do the same thing.”

Her breath caught painfully at this revelation, realization flooding through her. No wonder this date had seemed too good to be true. The whole thing was a sham. There was no time for a pity party however, as Diggle was still in hot pursuit. Or was he? The Suburban didn’t appear to be behind them anymore. “Did we lose him?”

In her peripheral vision, she saw headlights barreling towards the driver’s side as the Suburban t-boned the sports car. Her whole body shifted to the right as her head smacked against the window. The car skidded to a stop when Oliver threw the emergency brake.

“Are you okay?” He asked, leaning over and cupping the back of her head. Somehow, he looked no worse for wear, even though the impact happened on his side of the vehicle.

“It’s just a bump.”

“We gotta move then,” he said, pulling the door handle on the passenger door to open it. He unbuckled the two of them and crawled out after Felicity. “This way,” he said, taking her hand.

It was at that moment that the gravity of the situation hit her. She glanced back and saw the mangled vehicles, smoke rising from the wreckage. She also saw the gun tucked into Oliver’s waistband underneath his leather jacket for the first time. “Are you going to kill me?” Felicity murmured aloud.

A stir of movement pulled Oliver’s attention back behind him, where Diggle was climbing out of the totaled Suburban. Turning back to Felicity, he answered, “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

Even after all of the lies she had already been subjected to tonight, Felicity had a feeling that she could trust Oliver. After all, he’d kept her safe so far.

“Thought you could pull a fast one on me, Queen?” John Diggle’s deep baritone reverberated through the alley.

“Diggle, you know just as well as I do that this is a CIA matter,” Oliver said, spinning around to face him.

“When the CIA starts leaking NSA files, I tend to make it my business.”

“Agent Lance didn’t leak anything.”

“Is that so, pretty boy? Then why did she download the Intersect files?”

“For protection. Her assignment was to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.”

“Like Blondie’s over there?”

“I dye it, actually,” Felicity mumbled. Both men turned to stare at her. “Considering that I haven’t spoken to Sara since she got me kicked out of MIT three years ago, I don’t know why she would contact me.”

“You never told me what was in that email attachment,” Oliver said.

“It was this really long, weird slideshow.”

“Sara sent the Intersect files to her,” Diggle concluded, while Oliver grimaced.

“What’s this Intersect thing you keep talking about?”

“The Intersect project compiled files, documents, photos, and videos from the different government agencies and embedded that information into a series of images,” Oliver began.

“Undoubtedly like the slideshow you watched,” Diggle finished.

Felicity then remembered how she had a strange reaction to Diggle’s scar back at the restaurant. “Did you happen to get that scar behind your ear in a knife fight? When you flipped a guy over your shoulder?”

Oliver looked over at Felicity, puzzled. “How did you…?”

“When I walked by you at Big Belly, I noticed the scar on your neck and all of a sudden, I could see how it happened to you, clear as day. I thought I was just imagining things though, since I’ve never met you before in my life. How would I know that?”

“There was security camera footage of the Afghanistan incident,” Diggle offered. “It sounds like viewing that slideshow allowed you to retain the information embedded in those images, the files that Sara was supposed to protect.”

“All I remember is waking up with a massive headache. I….I didn’t ask to be a part of this.”

“Be that as it may, I’m going to need you to come with me.”

“Like hell she’s going with you!” Oliver pulled the gun out of his waistband, pointing it at Diggle.

“Don’t you think the CIA has screwed this up enough already, Queen? She can’t be on the streets with all of that information. She’s a liability. Besides, you shoot me, I shoot her.” Diggle raised his own firearm, aiming it at Felicity.

Everything around Felicity blurred, it was as if she were moving in slow motion. This was it, she was going to die here. Tommy, Thea, even Captain Awesome, none of them knew where she was. Looking around, Felicity familiarized herself with what she assumed would be the last things she ever saw.

It soon became apparent to Felicity that the commotion of the car chase had led them right to the convention center, where the Allied Tech Expo was taking place. The alleyway where they were was secluded enough that they were obscured from the vision of passersby, but Felicity still had a clear view of the main entrance. A large LED board above the doors advertised Gideon Wallace’s speech for that evening.

Felicity’s attention was drawn to a group of people congregated on the sidewalk who appeared to be a group of protesters. They were carrying signs with Gideon Wallace’s likeness that included messages like “Lucky Spike in Mercury Poisoning” and “Strike Three! You’re Out!” Lucky Strike had been in the news lately for rumored environmental contamination near one of their manufacturing plants, so there were bound to be environmental protesters.

A lean, wiry Asian protester caught her eye as he bent down to grab something out of his bag. Once she saw the Chinese character tattooed on the inside of his forearm, she felt the sharp stinging pain once more as her mind was overtaken with images of government documents. Multiple case files had referenced that tattoo as an identifying mark for Li Hong, a high ranking member of the Chinese Triad syndicate.

Suddenly, the flash of images was over and Oliver filled her vision, peering at her with a concerned look on his face. “What just happened?”

“I saw a man over there with a distinctive tattoo and then I had another flash of images in my mind like before at the restaurant. Why would a member of the Chinese Triad be attending a technology conference?”

“Did she just say Triad?” Diggle approached the pair, holstering his sidearm.

“See the protester with the backpack? CIA and NSA records have both identified him as Li Hong, a member of the Triad.” Felicity shook her head. “These words just sound so strange coming out of my mouth.”

Diggle ignored her last comment, turning to Oliver instead. “Who would his target be?”

“Target?” Felicity interjected. It was pretty obvious they weren’t talking about the Buy More’s competition.

“He’s the Triad’s main assassin,” Oliver filled in. “He was clearly sent here for a specific person. What are those signs for?” He gestured towards the protesters.

“Protesting Lucky Strike Industries. Their CEO Gideon Wallace is speaking tonight.”

Diggle started nodding. “He’ll be the target. Lucky Strike does a lot of contract work for the Defense Department, a lot of the tech gear and comms devices.”

“Lucky Strike makes the listening devices for the US government?” Felicity blurted.

Diggle gave her a pointed look before continuing. “I know for a fact that Wallace isn’t just CEO, he’s lead designer on quite a few of their devices. He’s instrumental to the company.”

“So eliminating him would adversely affect us?” Felicity surmised.

“Yes, which is why we need to stop it from happening.” Looking at Diggle, Oliver asked, “Do you know of any backup in the area?”

“It’s just you and me.”

“That will have to do,” Oliver said with a quick nod.

“What about me?” Felicity asked. “Don’t I count?”

Oliver, biting back a grin, said, “You’re not going anywhere near this. It’s too dangerous.”

“I thought you guys said I couldn’t be left on the streets, that I could expose you.” Even as she spoke, Felicity had no idea why she willingly offered to stay with them.

Oliver and Diggle shared a quick look, with Diggle issuing a brief nod. “Fine. But only do as we say, nothing crazy.”

“Looks like Hong’s on the move,” Diggle cut in.

The trio quickly made their way into the convention center, but stopped short upon entering the building, unsure of where to go next. The lobby was crowded with vendor booths, as well as attendees milling about. They had lost Hong in the crowd.

“Mr. Wallace should be speaking in the theater. That room has the largest capacity, and this conference has been sold out for months.” Both men turned to look at Felicity. “What? This is my area of expertise, so I’m bound to know things about the expo.”

“Which way is the theater?” Oliver asked.

“At the end of that hallway. Follow me.”

As the three weaved in and out of the crowds, Felicity couldn’t help but notice how Oliver and Diggle looked so out of place in this, her home element. Their commanding presence was definitely a stark contrast to the other men lining the hallway.

Once entering the theater, it was clear that Wallace’s address had yet to begin, as crowds were still filing into their seats and the stage was empty.

“Queen, you find Hong. I’ll try to grab Wallace before he goes on stage. And you,” Diggle said, looking at Felicity, “stay here, out of the way.”

“Understood,” Felicity said.

She watched as they split up, Diggle heading toward the side stage doors and Oliver heading towards the rear of the room in pursuit of the assassin that eluded them. When she saw the Asian man setting up what looked like a tripod at the back of the room on a camera platform, she texted Oliver to alert him. She saw recognition cross Oliver’s face as headed that direction. Felicity soon realized the so-called “tripod” was a rest for the long range rifle Hong was setting up. A gun like that in a room full of people was a bad idea, especially with so many people oblivious to something so sinister about to happen. But how could she get everyone out of the room without inducing panic? Spotting something shiny on the ceiling, she got an idea.

Felicity approached the first person she saw with their laptop out. Thinking on her feet, she came up with what she hoped was a convincing lie. “Would you mind if I borrowed your computer for just a few minutes? I’m expecting an important email from my boss and my phone just died. I’m going to lose my job if I screw up one more time.” Luckily, her impromptu plea and puppy dog expression worked as she picked up the laptop from the stranger.

She quickly found the computer connected to the convention center’s wireless network, just as she had suspected and hoped. Cracking her fingers, Felicity quickly got to work hacking into the building’s maintenance software after working her way into the mainframe. Hopefully this distraction will work, she thought as she typed in the final command.

Water rained down from the emergency sprinklers, causing the crowd assembled in the theater to search for cover in the hallway, holding programs over their heads like makeshift umbrellas. Felicity returned the borrowed laptop to its owner as he rushed to pack up his equipment before it got damaged. She felt a twinge of guilt for potentially ruining so many devices with water damage, but it was worth it rather than letting lives hang in the balance.

As Felicity peered toward the back of the now nearly empty room, she found Oliver already engaged in combat with Hong. Hong’s equipment scattered all over the floor as Oliver sent Hong barreling from a kick to the chest. Hong quickly recovered, popping back up to his feet. He countered with a right hook that Oliver easily blocked while catching Oliver by surprise with a blow to his torso from Hong’s left. Oliver stumbled backwards, visibly needing to catch his breath after that hit, but Hong charged forward, tackling Oliver to the ground and pinning him.

Felicity was afraid that Oliver was going to be on the losing side of the battle, but he surprised her by hooking his leg through Hong’s and pushing him up and over so they were both lying on their backs. Oliver pivoted his body so that it was perpendicular to Hong’s, then swiftly delivered an axe kick to Hong’s head, knocking him out.

It was when Oliver stood up and walked towards her to place his jacket on her shoulders that she realized she had been shivering, soaked to the bone. Oliver’s t-shirt quickly became drenched by the still persistent sprinklers, and Felicity would be lying if she said she didn’t notice the outline of his sculpted chest and abdomen through his shirt. Now was not the time for ogling, she reminded herself, as she looked over to see the Chinese assassin still immobile on the ground.

“What’s going to happen to him?” Felicity asked.

“He’ll be taken into federal custody,” Diggle said, approaching the pair from behind. “I’ve alerted that we need prisoner transport. They’ll be here in 20.”

“And Wallace?” Oliver asked.

“Safe and secure. His personal security team already have him on his way back to Silicon Valley.”

Felicity was a little disappointed that she didn’t get to see Gideon after the whole ordeal, but thought better of it. There were more pressing concerns, like what the CIA and NSA were planning to do with her.

“By the way, what’s with the waterworks?” Oliver asked, pointing to the sprinklers. “That was pretty convenient.”

“That was me, actually,” Felicity remarked. “I just figured innocent people didn’t need to be in the room with an assassin.”

“That was you?” Diggle asked, surprised. “What’d you do, pull the fire alarm?”

“No, I hacked into the convention center mainframe off a borrowed laptop and initiated the sprinkler system.”

When Diggle continued to stare, Oliver chuckled and said, “She went to MIT, remember?”

Felicity could feel herself shivering once more. “As much fun as this is boys, I’m soaking wet and need to get out of these clothes.” Again, her brain didn’t think that sentence through. “Ugh, DON’T read anything into that,” she finished, sure her cheeks were flaming.

“Queen, we need to talk about---”

“It can wait.” Oliver cut Diggle off. “I’m going to make sure Felicity gets home safe. Can you stay to see that Hong is dealt with?”

Diggle looked less than pleased at Oliver’s request, but said nothing as he walked over to where Hong still lay unconscious.

“Am I actually going home or are you taking me to some underground bunker?”

“Home...for now. With all of the developments tonight, I’m not sure yet how we proceed from here.” Oliver ushered Felicity out into the hallway. “We haven’t seen anything like you before.”

“I’m hoping that’s a compliment, because I don’t think my self-esteem can take any more blows tonight.”

She could almost see the corners of his mouth turn up into a smile, but he said nothing. They walked in silence until something occurred to Felicity. “I can’t believe I was trying to give you advice on how to spy on people!” They both laughed. “So you studied ‘international relations’ in college, huh? That’s a pretty good one.”

“It wasn’t a lie,” Oliver agreed. “More like a half truth.”

“What about the ex in DC?”

Oliver looked uncomfortable. “There’s some truth to that as well.” That was as much as he was willing to offer, so Felicity didn’t push it.

They had reached the entrance of the convention center. Oliver went about hailing a cab. “I already forgot about your totaled car,” Felicity admitted.

Oliver gave the driver Felicity’s address as they climbed into the back of the sedan. The ride was silent minus the low tones of the driver listening to the radio. It wasn’t long before they pulled up to the curb outside Felicity’s. Oliver handed some money to the driver as they stepped out into the moonlight.

“So what happens now?” Felicity asked, as the red of the cab’s tail lights finally exited her view.

“For now, you go in there and tell Tommy, Awesome, and Thea about your date from hell. And then you’re going to get ready for another day of work at the Buy More.”

“Like nothing has changed?”

“Like nothing has changed,” Oliver confirmed.

“Am I safe?”

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“So...I guess this is goodnight?” She removed Oliver’s jacket and handed it to him.

“Goodnight Felicity.”

Felicity headed towards the door. Just before she went inside, she turned around to see Oliver still standing there. “Are you going to be there all night?”

“Like I said, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Do you at least want a blanket or something?”

Oliver gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine. Goodnight Felicity.”

Felicity gave him one last smile as she opened the door. Thea and Tommy both pounced on her as soon as she crossed the threshold.

“Where have you been?” Tommy asked.

“Why do you look like a wet dog?” Thea questioned with a raised eyebrow, as Tommy slapped her arm. “Seriously, what happened?”

Felicity tried to craft a story that told the basic truth without revealing any of the secrets. They wouldn’t believe her anyway. Secret agents? Car chases? Assassins? Government secrets embedded in her brain? Yeah, no one was going to buy that.

“Well, we went to dinner at Big Belly Burger. And I mentioned how I really wanted to see Gideon Wallace speak at the Allied Tech Expo. Remember when I applied for that internship with Lucky Strike Industries, Tommy? So Oliver decided we would go to the convention center and see if we could get in. But someone must have pulled the fire alarm, because the sprinklers went off before Gideon could speak. Thus my drenched look.”

“Do you think you’ll see him again?” Awesome called out from where she was seated on the couch.

Felicity thought of Oliver outside. “Maybe. I hope so.”

Before Thea could get another question in, Felicity cut her off. “Look guys, I’m tired and I’m soaking wet so I’d really like to go to bed. Can we talk about this tomorrow?”

Thea reluctantly nodded her head. “See you in the morning, sweetie.” She grabbed her things. “Goodnight Tommy,” she said with a smile. “Laurel,” she nodded brusquely.

Once Thea left, Felicity took a hot shower to warm up. She put on her coziest flannel PJs and got ready for bed. As tired as she was, her mind was still racing with the events of the day.

Crawling into her bed, it was hard to tell what would be in store for her next. Was this the last time she would be able to sleep in her own bed? She turned off her bedside lamp, finding the glow of her computer monitor still persistent. Everything that had happened today happened because of that computer. Of all the people in the world, why did Sara Lance choose to send the intersect to her?

They hadn’t spoken in three years (for good reason), but once upon a time, they were close friends. The kind of close friends that bonded over freshman orientation, dating horror stories, cramming for finals, and numerous pints of Ben & Jerry’s. And somehow, that girl who slept on the bunk above her became a CIA agent.

It was still too much to absorb, but exhaustion finally took hold and Felicity drifted off to sleep.

Night turned to morning, time for yet another day at the Buy More. Felicity went through her usual morning routine but felt anxious throughout, as if someone were watching over her shoulder. Heading to the car with Thea, Oliver and Diggle were nowhere to be found, which made sense. If they were going to be watching over her, they were going to be subtle about it.

Thea kept trying to interrogate Felicity about her date on the way to work, but Felicity’s mind was elsewhere. Now that she had these government secrets in her head, maybe she could do something greater than making $11 an hour fixing computers at a big box store. Who was she kidding? Things weren’t going to change. Last night was probably an elaborate daydream concocted by her brain to counteract the dullness of her everyday life, latching on to a crazy idea and running with it.

Felicity spent the morning trying to forget that she spent her night with the NSA and the CIA. She tried to go about her business like normal, but her mind kept flitting between the wish that Sara had never sent her that email but also wanting to see Oliver again, no matter the circumstances. Felicity tried everything to distract herself from her errant thoughts and finally settled on going through the online inventory, a task she had been putting off for a while.

She didn’t know how long it had been before she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Thea had texted her a message almost identical to the one from yesterday, but this time followed by a crown.

She rounded the Nerd Herd counter to try and find Thea on the sales floor, but instead ran into a solid chest, one belonging to Oliver Queen. The possibilities that ran through Felicity’s mind all ended with her locked in a room somewhere, so when Oliver touched her arm and leaned in, Felicity froze, closing her eyes. The next thing she knew, Oliver’s lips were on hers, gentle but insistent. When he pulled away, Felicity kept her eyes closed, not sure what she would find when she opened them, but not wanting the moment to end either.

“Felicity,” Oliver said, gently squeezing her arm.

She slowly opened her eyes to find Oliver peering down at her, a slight tilt to his head.

Felicity’s questions came out in a rush. “What the hell was that? What are you doing here? Are you taking me in and thought that would lessen the sting? What is going on?”

“Slow down,” Oliver said, taking his other arm and placing it on her shoulder with a reassuring squeeze. “I was stopping by to see if you had fixed my computer yet.”

“Seriously?!” Felicity fixed Oliver with a pointed stare, wondering why he used his false reason for coming to the store yesterday.

“If anyone asks, that’s exactly why I’m here. But it turns out, I’m going to be staying a while. The CIA and NSA are working on how to extract the intersect, and until they figure it out, I’m going to be here. As your boyfriend.”

“My boyfr---” Felicity wasn’t ready to finish that word, let alone finish that conversation. Instead, she switched gears. “What about Diggle?”

“You didn’t notice your new coworker?”

Felicity scanned the room until she found the agent standing near the washers and dryers with a customer, biceps straining under the fitted green polo. As if on cue, he looked in their direction and nodded as he continued his conversation.

She spotted Thea out of the corner of her eye over by the DVDs with an incredulous look on her face, staring back at her. Felicity couldn’t blame her, as it’s not everyday a super hot guy walks into their workplace and lays one on her. Felicity held up a finger at her, indicating she’d be over in a minute.

“So what now, boyfriend?”

“You just keep doing what you’re doing, but if you notice anything out of the ordinary, you let us know.”

“That’s it?”

“And I’m coming over for dinner tonight. Tommy and Awesome need to meet me.”

“Dates on back-to-back nights?” Felicity raised her eyebrows expectantly.

“We’re….invested in each other.”

Even though she knew it was all for show, Felicity was going to make the most out of this situation. “Dinner’s at six. Don’t be late,” she said, reaching up and kissing the corner of his mouth, then quickly walking in Thea’s direction.

It was safe to say that her monotonous, boring life was coming to an end. Felicity snuck a look back at Oliver. Oh yes, she thought, things are going to get interesting.

_~the beginning~_

**Author's Note:**

> As you can tell, this is just the beginning. While I have ideas for future follow-ups, the floor is open to you as well. If this AU inspires you to delve deeper into this world, then by all means do so. Hit me up on tumblr at girlwithsixsmiles and let me know what you have in mind.


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